These issues were the main focus of Above the Battle, by Romain Rolland (1866-1944). He was the famous French author of the long novel Jean-Christophe, which was published between 1904 and 1912 and helped Rolland earn the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.
A quotation from Jean-Christophe in Above the Battle seemed to predict World War I:
The title of Above the Battle helps describe Rolland's viewpoint as an outside observer. The book is a collection of essays that Rolland wrote in Switzerland between August 1914 and August 1915. Most of the essays were published in the Journal de Genève, a daily newspaper in Geneva, Switzerland.The fire smouldering in the forest of Europe was beginning to burst into flame. In vain did they try to put it out in one place; it only broke out in another.
Rolland opened himself up to understandable criticism in France by living in neutral Switzerland during World War I; by his lack of enthusiasm for the French war effort; and by his sympathetic portrayal of German soldiers.
But Above the Battle is still a valuable representation of one person's purely human thoughts and emotions about the war that was raging in Europe.
Rolland tried to appeal to his peers in the world of arts and culture. He criticized German thinkers and artists about their support for the war (including the prominent novelist Thomas Mann). Rolland also tried to appeal to their better natures to help create a more peaceful world after the war was over.
He tried to address the universal, common interests that united people of all nations. He often sympathetically quoted the letters of German soldiers who had mixed feelings about the war. This opened him up to criticism which he tried to rebut in a chapter titled "The Murder of the Elite" that was published on June 14, 1915 in the Journal de Genève:
The title essay of the book is a general condemnation of all combatants, with emphasis on Germany, Austria, and one of France's allies—Russia. Like many other writers, Rolland called for an organization—a "moral High Court"—which would judge nations that violated the rights of other nations."Why publish these pages?" I shall be asked by some people in France. "What good is it, when once war is let loose, to arouse pity for our adversaries, at the risk of blunting the ardor of the combatants?"—I answer, because it is the truth, and because the truth substantiates our judgment, the judgment of the whole world against the German leaders and their policy.
Rolland pointed out the cultural value of structures that were destroyed by the German army, particularly the cathedral in Rheims, France, and the general destruction in Louvain, Belgium. Although he strongly sympathized with the personal suffering of the war, he noted that the destruction of significant buildings destroyed anchors of civilization that connected people with their history and culture.
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| Romain Rolland on the balcony of his home in Paris, 1914 (Wikimedia) |
Above the Battle was published in a translated edition in the United States in 1916 by The Open Court Publishing Company, which specialized in the overlapping interests of philosophy, religion, and science. Some of the chapters were published individually in newspapers and The Cambridge Magazine in 1914 and 1915.
The publication of Above the Battle in the U.S. came during an increasingly strong debate about whether the U.S. should join the fighting in Europe. This debate continued through the presidential campaign of 1916 and finished with the declaration of war by the U.S. in early 1917.
Many book reviewers in the United States used Above the Battle to make a case against the involvement of the United States in the European war. A syndicated review that appeared in several newspapers (including The Bismarck (North Dakota) Tribune on September 24, 1916) started with these words:
Out of the turmoil of war comes the voice of Romain Rolland, great French author and critic. It is quiet, thoughtful, sympathetic. He, perhaps alone of all the great thinkers of Europe, has not been swept off his feet by the tempest.That is why Rolland had had trouble voicing his thoughts in his own country. He tried to give credit where credit was due; he found fault not only with the enemy, but with his own allies. He found fault with the whole idea of war.
Above the Battle was published in the United States around April 8, 1916, when a review of the book appeared in The Boston Post. Front page headlines from that day's Post included:
- GERMANY'S BID FOR PEACE SPURNED BY GREAT BRITAIN / Lord Robert Cecil, Minister of War Trade, Replies to Von Bethmann-Hollweg—Savage Criticism Made of Germany's Methods and Pretences—Belgium's Restoration Must Be Real Restoration
- Germans report capture from British of mine craters near St. Eloi, the positions being defended by Canadians.—OFFICIAL (Berlin)
- The French, in a grenade attack, have retaken portions of the trenches captured from them by the Germans near Bethincourt, northwest of Verdun.—OFFICIAL (Paris)
Online versions:
Newspaper information from Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/)
Romain Rolland photograph from Agence de presse Meurisse [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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